Improvement in f



E. FBEARDSLEE. FIRING FUSES BY ELECTRICITY.

No. 39,542. Patented Aug. 18, 1863.

tricity of UNITED STATES PATENT .OF-FICE.

FREDERIGKQE. BEARDSLEE, or COLLEGE POINT, new YORK.

lM-PROVEMENTlNFlRlNG FUSES BY ELECTRICITY.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 39,542, dated August id, 1863.

To all whom it may concern: Be it known that I, FREDERICK E. BEARDS- LEE, of College Point, Long Island, in the State of New York, have invented a new and Useful Method of Firing Charges of Powder;

and I do hereby declare that the following is a proved plan Fig. 2, a lon gitndinal section, and

Fig. 3 a cross-section.

The same letters indicatelike parts in all the figures.

My said invention relates to a fuse by which charges of powder, wherever desired, may be fired by acurrent of electricity.

It is well known that powder and other explosive substances may be and have been exploded by electric currents. The .most ap proved mode heretofore known is by currents of electricity generated by the galvanic-battery and transmitted by suitable conductors to the point'desired and there united by a very fine short iron or platina wire or foil placed within a cartridge or other case containing powder.

By passing such a current of elecsuflicient'volume through the condue tors the-small wire or foil-becomes heated to a sufficient degree to ignite .the powder. But to induce in the small connecting wire or .foil a degree of heat snificient to ignite gun-- powder considerable time as well as a large volume of electric current are required to produce such an effeoheven at soshorta distance as one mile. Currents of in tensity which could be transmitted by. small conductors would not produce sufiicient heat to ignite gunpowder. The length of time required to induce the required high degree of heat, as well as the use of a galvanic battery andlarge conductors, are serious objections.

Magneto-electric currents have been used toexplode powder which can be ignited at a low degree of heat, and known as, percussion or fulminating powder; but the use of such powder is attendedwith great risk. Notwithstanding such danger, however, it is the most approved mode heretofore practiced for. war and mining purposes.

Another mode which has been suggested and applied is to use what is called the Bah mkorfl coil, by which an electric spark is made to jump, from thepoint of one conductor to another within a cartridge to ignite'the contained charge of powder; but this method requires insulation of the conductors to such a degree of thickness that in practice itihas not succeeded well.

\ZVith the fuse which constitutes my saidinvention I avoid all the above objection, as with it I am enabled instantly to ignite gunpowder by slightly-intensecurrentsinduced by a magneto-electric machine or battery, preferring the former'for obvious reasons. 'I have discovered, however, that if the extremities of two metallic conductors be connected by what may be termeda feeble conductor, composed of fine particles in close "proximity-such, for instance, as a mark made with a good plumbago pencil on a block of wood, and extending from .one of the metallic conductors to the other-the passage of a-slightly-intense current through such feeble'conductor will be attended with an instantaneous emission of intense heator flash which will ignite gunpowder.

In view of this, my invention consists in forming a fuse for igniting powder by connecting the ends of two metallic conductors by means of a feeble conductor composed of tine particles of some condnctin g substance in corn tact, or nearly in contact, ,with the charge of powder, or separated therefrom by some equally combustible substance.

In the accompanying drawings, g represents a ,block of wood, which I term the holder, and into which are inserted'two copper wires, h h, of about No. 16 wire gage, and about three-sixteenths of an inch apart from center to center. The edges of the extreme ends of the wires should be completelyin contact with the wood. The other end of the wires arelett to project from the block to a sufficient length for the purpose of' forming a connection with a magneto-electric machine or battery. ,5

The feebleconductor connecting the extreme end of the two copper wires h -h I prefer to make by a mark, t, on-the end of the holder extending from one wire to the other, and made itending .sutficiently. beyond the end of the holder to form asmall case, j, to hold a small charge of powder in contact-with the feeble con nctor, preferring-for this purpose mealpo der. When a current of electricity is induced in passing through'the 'pl'umbago mark 'a v or equivalent feeble conductor, it'will produce a flash of intense heat, which will instantly ignite the contained charge of powder.

To protect the ends of the conducting-wires h h and he plumbago line from oxidation and injury, 1; ey may be coated with collodion or other, equivalent substance. Fuses made on this plan may beused for firing torpedoes and mines, charges for blasting rocks, and'charges of powder ingeneral.

When but one fuse is required to be fired at a time I have found bass-wood and the substanceknown as the hardcompound of vulcanized indie-rubber" to answer a good purpose for making the holder; but when it is desired to fire several at the same, or nearly the same,

, instant of time, and all connected in one electric circuit, it will be best to make the holders of some non-conducting'substance which is not combustible, such as glass, ivory, bone, &c.

As'for the feeble conductor connecting the two condncting-wiresh It, I have found a mark made with a plnmbage pencilbest adapted to the purpose; but I do not wish to be understood as limiting myclaim of invention to the use thereof, as other substances may be, sub;

stituted to make the feeble conductor-such,

for instance, as a conducting substance in a fine pulverized state-and so connected as to form a-line extending from one of the conducting-wires to the other, .or a mark made upon some non-conducting substance by any con-i ducting material ,which .will disintegrate in close proximity to the powder, substantially as set forth.

' F. ,E. BEARDSLEE.

- Witnesses:

I. H. Jolmsox,

Jnms H, Source. 

